Category: Survival

Blog, Survival

Is Freedom Really Free?

by  • 

Is Freedom Really Free?

I had longed for this day
It marked the start of freedom
My release from under your thumb
To be me and not your version of me

I struggle to remember what I was like
How I used to smile and poke fun
Bringing joy to those who valued me
I was lost in the fury of your wake 

The lead up to my release
was like crawling through molasses 
As my heart raced, your demands
tethered me in place, a domestic prisoner

Delaying the obvious pushed me in a corner
What you hoped to achieve was a lost cause
Metaphorically speaking, I came out swinging
Did this have to end so acrimoniously?


Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved


Lillian is Hosting Open Link Night at D'Verse.  Check out some of our fellow poets' works and read Lillian's wonderful tribute to Glenn Buttkuss, a D'Verse Poet and Host, who recently passed.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Blog, Poem of the Month, Survival

Swimming With a Hook in my Mouth – Poem of the Month – January 2023

by  • 

Swimming With a Hook in my Mouth

In this prison I am not alone
There is food and warmth
A security the body craves
but a nourishment
unable to feed the mind
Here in your jail my soul possessed
Cramped in a cell, my words stifled
Expectations to meet
A schedule to follow
Duties to be performed
Resentment builds within
I tread water to prevent drowning
in your sea of servitude
I am tired of swimming 
with a hook in my mouth


Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Linda is hosting Open Link Night at D'Verse Poets
Blog, Survival

The Air That I Breathe

by  • 

The Air That I Breathe

Breathing tentatively taking in air slowly
Allowing oxygen to travel to the brain
Steadying, remembering 
Words form on quivering lips and the sound
of a shaky voice fills the dark and vacant room
Coming slowly at first but as air
is taken deep into lungs
The monochrome space becomes technicolor
and I am muzzled no more


Copyright © 2022 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Sarah is hosting D’Verse Poets tonight and she has promoted us with the
four elements, Fire, Air, Water and Earth.
Blog, Survival

Into the Wallpaper

by  • 

Into the Wallpaper

When did it happen? I do not recall
Thrilled at how intertwined our lives
had become in the short time
we had been together
Thinking of myself less and less
Putting you always front and center
It made me happy to do things for you
and you basked in the sunshine of my giving

One day I realized I no longer saw my friends
Making excuses to my family why I couldn’t see them
Noticing how others no longer addressed me
Everything was directed to you instead
I had become insignificant, isolated
It was as if I had disappeared into the wallpaper
Unseen, unheard, living in your shadow
This was your plan from the beginning


Copyright © 2022 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Stream of Consciousness Saturday - Wallpaper
Blog, Survival

Animal Instincts

by  • 

Animal Instincts

Your presence noticeable
With looks and charm
Engaging those around you, but,
you know that I know who you really are

Ignoring my icy stare you laugh
maybe just a little too loud
so I might hear you having a good time
But that is wasted on me

Sly as a fox and twice as cunning 
Strategic in circling your prey
You will likely ensnare an unsuspecting hen
from the coop this night

Your antics are predictable
And yes, my view of you is negative
To me you are, and always will be,
just a big, fat zero


Copyright © 2022 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healings
All Rights Reserved

Word Prompts

Fox - RDP
Negative - FOWC
Zero - Stream of Consciousness


Blog, Survival

Riptide

by  • 

Riptide

Swimming in your troubled waters
I am caught in a riptide
which pulls me from the safety of the shore
Struggling in its undertow and 
unable to hold on to you any longer
I feel you slipping through my arms
as I am carried away from you
and your tempestuous sea of anger
Not knowing where I will be taken
I am scared, my arms flailing to stay afloat
My heart yearns for an emotional life raft
to cling to before surrendering to the currents
I pray for peace wherever the tide takes me


Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

 Bjorn is hosting Open Link Night at D’Verse Poets
Blog, Quadrille, Survival

Out of the Groove – A Quadrille

by  • 

Out of the Groove

Over time, with circumstances
pushing us in different directions, 
our groove has been smoothed out
We no longer fall into each other
Instead with our balance regained
we stand independently 
Me, strong without your weight
pulling me down
You, floundering because you never tried


Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

De Jackson (aka Whimsy Gizmo) is hosting Monday Quadrille at D'Verse Poets
She has prompted us with "Groove"  Any which way we want to use it.
A Quadrille is a poem of exactly 44 words, excluding the title.
Blog, Survival

Duplicitous

by  • 

Duplicitous

The outward signs of wealth
and social belonging
attracts those vacuous types
in search of foolish things

Talk can be impressive
to those unable to read
between the lines
of your thin veneer

For there under that surface
is a two-headed monster
showing different faces
Color me cynical


Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Word Prompts

Stream of Consciousness - Color
Word of the Day - Impressive
FOWC - Vacuous
RDP - Foolish Things
Blog, Survival

Edge of Extinction

by  • 

Edge of Extinction

Flirting with the ocean
Standing on jagged rocks
Daring it to dress her
with its beauty
To take her completely
Into its arms
and hold her down
until she could breathe
no more
Teasing and begging
for the attention
Wishing to surrender
to its power but,
her lover not receptive
 
Screaming above the waves
of anger lashing at rocks
her voice fell, unheard
The night dark and broody
but a velvet sky pushed back
the lingering curtain of clouds
Silence fell with a halted wind
and the angry sea
slowed its breath to a whisper
Tempt me no longer, it said
You use me to dull your pain
but I will not take you this night
Instead I will wash it away
So you may live another day
 
 
Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Lisa is hosting D'Verse Poets tonight and has
prompted us with "Edge" and "Fringe".  I am sharing
a reworked poem that I had written several years ago.
I think it works for this challenge. 

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay
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